Updated (Jun2020) How-to to allow Alexa/Google voice control of GD00Z or other Garage Door Opener

I just moved to a Smartthings hub and bought a Linear GD00Z-7 garage door opener and have been searching for 'how-to’s to integrate it with Google/Alexa voice control. I saw many different posts, but they all have been older and it seems Alexa (etc) ‘don’t work that way any more’ (at least for me). So I struggled through getting this to work myself and thought I’d post my method here for others to use.

WARNING: Please understand that this overcomes some basic home security - it can possibly allow unwanted persons to shout through a window and open your garage, so USE AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Setting up the Garage Door Opener:

First make sure your Garage Door Opener is installed and associated with a working Smartthings device handler, so that you can Open and Close the door from the Smartthings app. If not, the rest of this (obviously) will not work.

In the steps below, I found it was important to use cryptic, yet easily recognizable ‘names’ for the various items below and NOT use “GarageDoor” everywhere. If nothing else this saves Alexa/Google confusion when trying to use voice commands. You can just follow the ones I’ve used below, or use your own. Just don’t get them mixed up!

On Smartthings IDE:
Login to the IDE @ https://account.smartthings.com (updated link :slight_smile: )

Create a pair of Virtual Switches (one for opening and one for closing the Garage Door):

  • For opening the door:
  1. Click 'My Devices'
    
  2. Click the 'New Device' Button
    
  3. Enter a 'Name' for the device, I suggest "GDVirtOpen".
    
  4. 'Label' can be left blank.
    
  5. Enter a 'Device Network Id' either use https://www.uuidgenerator.net/ to generate one, or enter your own unique ID, ex. "GAR111"
    
  6. 'Zigbee Id' should be left blank
    
  7. Select a 'Type' from the dropdown, this should be 'Virtual Switch'.
    
  8. 'Version' should be 'published'
    
  9. 'Location' should be your hub location, probably 'My Home'
    
  10. 'Hub' should be your hub name.
    
  11. 'Group' can be left blank.
    
  12. Click 'Create'.
    
  • Repeat for closing the door:
  1. Click 'My Devices'
    
  2. Click the 'New Device' Button
    
  3. Enter a 'Name' for the device, I suggest "GDVirtClose".
    
  4. 'Label' can be left blank.
    
  5. Enter a 'Device Network Id' either use https://www.uuidgenerator.net/ to generate one, or enter your own unique ID, ex. "GAR111"
    
  6. 'Zigbee Id' should be left blank
    
  7. Select a 'Type' from the dropdown, this should be 'Virtual Switch'.
    
  8. 'Version' should be 'published'
    
  9. 'Location' should be your hub location, probably 'My Home'
    
  10. 'Hub' should be your hub name.
    
  11. 'Group' can be left blank.
    
  12. Click 'Create'.
    

On Smartthings App:

Create a pair of Automations to ‘monitor’ the above virtual switches and translate their operation to trigger the opening/closing of the Garage Door:

  • For opening the door:
  1. Click Add (+ sign) and select 'Automation'
    
  2. On the 'If' stage, click '+' and select 'Device status'
    
  3. Select the open garage virtual switch you created above, ex. "GDVirtOpen"
    
  4. Choose the 'On' state, click 'Save', then click 'Next'
    
  5. On the 'Then' stage, click '+' and select 'Control Devices'
    
  6. Choose your actual Garage Door device - NOT the virtual switches from above! (In my case "Garage Door"). Click 'Next'
    
  7. Tap on the Garage Door device line and select 'Door control' then select 'Open'
    
  8. Click 'Save'
    
  9. Back on the 'Then' stage, click '+' again and select 'Control Devices'
    
  10. Select the open garage virtual switch you created above, ex. "GDVirtOpen". Click 'Next'
    
  11. Tap on the virtual switch device line and select 'Off' (this will reset the virtual switch after each use)
    
  12. Click 'Done' and choose an Automation name, I suggest "GDAutomOpen"
    
  • Repeat for closing the door:
  1. Click Add (+ sign) 
    
  2. On the 'If' stage, click '+' and select 'Device status'
    
  3. Select the close garage virtual switch you created above, ex. "GDVirtClose"
    
  4. Choose the 'On' state, click 'Save', then click 'Next'
    
  5. On the 'Then' stage, click '+' and select 'Control Devices'
    
  6. Choose your actual Garage Door device - NOT the virtual switches from above! (In my case "Garage Door"). Click 'Next'
    
  7. Tap on the Garage Door device line and select 'Door control' then select 'Close'
    
  8. Click 'Save'
    
  9. Back on the 'Then' stage, click '+' again and select 'Control Devices'
    
  10. Select the close garage virtual switch you created above, ex. "GDVirtClose". Click 'Next'
    
  11. Tap on the virtual switch device line and select 'Off' (this will reset the virtual switch after each use)
    
  12. Click 'Done' and choose an Automation name, I suggest "GDAutomClose"
    

On Alexa App:

Confirm Alexa has found the virtual switches… click on ‘Devices’ -> ‘All Devices’ and scroll though and verify you can see the switches you created in Smartthings above.

At this point, you should be able to say “Alexa, turn on GDVirtOpen” and have it open the garage door. But that’s ugly, so one more stage:

Create a pair of Routines to add sensible voice controls to trigger the open/close of the Garage Door:

  • For opening the door:
  1. Click the 'Hamburger' icon on the top left and select 'Routines'
    
  2. Click the '+' icon on the top right and then click on each of the following in turn:
    
    • Leave ‘Enter routine name’ blank
    • Click ‘When this happens’, click ‘Voice’ and enter “open the garage door”
    • Click ‘Add action’. Scroll down and click on ‘Smart Home’, then click ‘All devices’.
    • Select the “GDVirtOpen” switch you created above and make sure ‘Power’ is ‘On’. Click ‘Next’.
    • Click Save.
  • Repeat for closing the door:
  1. Click the ‘+’ icon on the top right and then click on each of the following in turn:
    • Leave ‘Enter routine name’ blank
    • Click ‘When this happens’, click ‘Voice’ and enter “close the garage door”
    • Click ‘Add action’. Scroll down and click on ‘Smart Home’, then click ‘All devices’.
    • Select the “GDVirtClose” switch you created above and make sure ‘Power’ is ‘On’. Click ‘Next’.
    • Click Save.

On Google Home App:

Confirm Google Home has found the virtual switches… scroll though the home screen and verify you can see the switches you created in Smartthings above.
At this point, you should be able to say “Hey Google, turn on GDVirtOpen” and have it open the garage door. But that’s ugly, so one more stage:

Create a pair of Routines to add sensible voice controls to trigger the open/close of the Garage Door

  • For opening the door:
  1. Click the 'Routines' icon near the top 
    
  2. Click 'Manage Routines' at the bottom, then click '+ Add a routine'
    
  3. Click 'Add commands' and enter "open the garage door", click 'OK'
    
  4. Click '(Assistant will) + Add action', enter "Turn on GDVirtOpen", click 'Add'
    
  5. Click 'Save'
    
  • Repeat for closing the door:
  1. Click '+ Add a routine'
    
  2. Click 'Add commands' and enter "close the garage door", click 'OK'
    
  3. Click '(Assistant will) + Add action', enter "Turn on GDVirtClose", click 'Add'
    
  4. Click 'Save'
    

Notes in the form of Question/Answers

Q: Why use a virtual switch at all?
A: Because Alexa and Google won’t allow direct operation of a door opener or lock ‘for security reasons’, so we have to add a layer of abstraction. We could use a Simulated Switch or Button here, but I understand that Virtual Switches are processed locally, whereas Simulated ones are processed in the cloud, so I prefer to use the former.

Q: Why two virtual switches, instead on one that is on/off?
A: Because there’s no way to associate the state of the door with a single switch. If someone opens/closes the door manually, the switch will get out of sync.

Q: Why do we need the Smartthings Automation?
A: This is required both to operate the garage door AND to reset the virtual switch to OFF again, once it has been turned on - in other words emulate a button press. Again it may be possible to use a Simulated Button here, but I have not tried that - and again, it involves ‘the cloud’.

Q: Why create the Routine in Alexa/Google Home?
A: To associate natural speech commands to open/close the garage door (instead of having to say “turn ON the [garage door]” for example).

Q: How can I tell if the Garage Door is open or closed just by asking Alexa/Google?
A: You can just ask “Is the Garage Door open?” (assuming your opener’s Smartthings device name is “Garage Door”). Google/Alexa will reply “The Garage Door is [Open|Closed]”.

3 Likes

Great write up.

However if you’re using an Enhanced Garage Door controller device handler like this one for zwave Garage Door controllers like the GD004-Z: [RELEASE] Enhanced Z-Wave Garage Door Controller GD00Z-4/GD00Z-5/Linear/GoControl/Iris/Nortek Device Handler with Switch and Automated Garage Door Open/Close when People Arrive/Leave/Timer

Or this one for MyQ controllers: [RELEASE] MyQ Lite Door and Lamp Control (for Liftmaster/Chamberlain)

These have a built in switch capability so you can directly tell Google or Alexa to turn on (open) or turn off (close) the garage door devices directly without having to create additional scenes or automations. They’re flexible enough to work as garage door controller as well as a virtual switch.

1 Like

You may want to edit your post and use https://account.smartthings.com instead. Otherwise, many users may get unexpected results :slight_smile:

Thanks for the response…

It may be that some folks need an would pay for an extended handler, but this method is free and at least half the reason I went through this exercise was so I wouldn’t be forced to say the non-intuitive “turn on/off the garage door” (and have to train my wife to do it too! :slight_smile: )

I just want to say thank you so much for this writeup! I’ve been searching all over the internet on how to do this, and this was the easiest and well written instructions with step by step.

Truly appreciate the work!

Quick question - I tried this and it works on my phone. My wife’s phone, is part of the household and she can do commands and it works. However this new command doesn’t work specifically on her phone. Do I have to “sync” or do something tell her Google Home (signed in under her account) to add the new devices and such that was added on my phone?

Thanks!

Yes, if she is using a different Google account, then you would have to repeat the On Google Home App: section on her phone. This assumes that the other accounts (Smarthings etc) are shared by her.

1 Like

Thanks for the writeup! It helped me get my door set up again after IFTTT stopped working and I decided to burn things down and start over. :smiley:

Note that the menus and prompts in Google Home have changed a bit. It was easy to figure out, but you might consider updating that section.

Thanks again!

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